a. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to the field of body supporting structures, and more particularly to a water-swung hammock for use on lakes, oceans and other water environments.
b. Description of Related Art
Hammock existence has been documented for roughly one thousand years with an estimated number of present day users at 100 million worldwide. The structure of a hammnock is defined as a swingable sheet of material suspended between two attachment points adapted to support a user for the purpose of swinging and relaxation. However, to swing back and forth in a hammock one must employ a measure of human or mechanical effort for motive power.
The present invention provides an apparatus that requires no measure of human or mechanical effort to swing back and forth, adding a new dimension of water responsiveness to a hammock thereby enhancing a hammock's relaxation characteristics to greatly increase the enjoyment obtained therefrom.
As discovered with the first prototype, which can be viewed by logging onto www.waterhammocks.com, a water-swung hammock operates best with a sufficient amount of floatation means to stabilize the frame, while at the same time having a floatation means to provide a measure of impact absorption to achieve stabilization in more active waters.
In U.S. Pat. No. D 370,956 issued Jun. 18, 1996 a water hammock is presented as a sheet immersed in water.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,186,667 issued Feb. 16, 1993 a floating hammock is presented as a floating article immersed in water.
These disclosures operate outside the fundamental characteristics of a free-swinging sheet known to define a hammock, likewise, they do not operate on water as aquatic hammocks or on-land as hammocks, nor are they interchangeable with other brands of hammocks, improve upon a hammock, or expand upon the existing hammock market.
A water-swung hammock can be used on-land if desired, is interchangeable with other brands of hammocks, improves upon a hammock and thereby expands upon the existing hammock market while at the same time defining a new class of hammocks.
While personal floatation devices, floating articles and inflatable mattresses as in the aforementioned patents present interest in the hammock market, these floatation means are configured for use in a specific manner and do not relate to the present invention in any way.